Controversial pension reform amendment goes to voters

Cincinnati City Council is holding a special session on Tuesday to talk about the pension amendment. The issue will be on November's ballot. If passed, the amendment would put new workers into a retirementFull Story >

Cincinnati City Council is holding a special session on Tuesday to talk about the pension amendment.Full Story >

A group is aiming to make drastic changes to Cincinnati's troubled pension program. Members of Cincinnati for Pension Reform collected thousands of signatures to try and put a measure on November's ballotFull Story >

A group is aiming to make drastic changes to Cincinnati's troubled pension program. Cincinnati for Pension Reform successfully collected enough validated signatures to put a measure on November's ballot calling for an amendment to the city's charter.Full Story >

CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) -

A charter
amendment aimed at reforming Cincinnati's troubled pension system was
passed out of council Tuesday. The vote was required since the needed signatures
were in place supporting the initiative.

All council members oppose the
ballot initiative that will soon be in front of voters. They do not, however,
all agree on whether the city is doing enough on its own to rein in the $860
million dollars of unfunded pension liability.

Current and former city workers
filed into chambers Tuesday to hear what council had to say about the proposed
amendment.

"In my eyes I think we did what we were supposed to do and council
has not met their obligations," city retiree Bernadette Watson said
of pension contributions.

"It's very easy to just throw out
there 'Let's just push out the retirement age, let's change the COLA', and
what's important for both our employees to know as well as the public to know
is that this council adopted some of the most sweeping changes to any public
pension system in the country for current and future employees," mayoral
candidate Roxanne Qualls said of the initiative.

Qualls argues those changes solve
the pension issues long-term. Her plan for dealing with the pension problem is
laid out on her
campaign website.

On the other side, council member
Chris Smitherman criticized the action of council.

"Even me disagreeing with what's
going on the ballot, I don't think anyone here has any room to grandstand that
they've done their job," he argued.

Smitherman, along with mayoral
candidate John Cranley proposes increasing annual contributions to pay down the
unfunded liability and looking at new investment strategies.

"There's an election coming up on
four year terms and I think the retirees and our workers have the right to know
what exactly this council intends to do about the pension problem," Cranley
said, addressing council.

Even though fire and police
employees are not a part of the city's pension system, they still have skin in
the game if the amendment passes and budget cuts are made. Local 48
spokesperson Matt Alter urged taxpayers Tuesday to consider the consequences.

"They're going to have to really
look at this and say 'Am I willing to cut, have massive cuts to my basic
services that I pay taxes for or am I willing to pay more in taxes?" Alter
emphasized.